“The fundamental law of human beings is interdependence. A person is a person through other persons." - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Leaning into the "Work Together in Community" step, here are 3 ideas/gifts/creations that graced my path and enriched my 3 Step Reciprocity Cycle. I'm delighted to share and hope you will too!

Acknowledge Earth Is Our Home

As my dear friend and fellow relationship coach Tressa Yonekawa navigates all the losses in her Palisades neighborhood, I'd love to share what she wrote:

The 3 prompts my partner and I are using to ground at the edge of an unknown and unfamiliar world: 

1. What feels safe right now? 

2. What doesn't feel safe that I have control over OR need to ask for help with? 

3. What doesn't feel safe that I don't have control over and no help exists? 

4. Bonus: With things that don't feel safe in my thoughts, what can I do to help those move through my body without getting stuck, what can I do to shift my anxiety while honoring the truth of my feelings and the reality of my emotional and physical unmet needs? 

Ideas: 

Dance 

Shake it out 

Swing arms in big messy circles 

Jump up and down 

Write Write Write 

Physically twirl or spin 

SING MANTRAS or MERMAID SOUNDS LOUDLY

Lay down and do floor or snow angels 

Walk or Run somewhere you don't need to think or consider your safety (treadmill, garage, your yard, in your home) 

GET OUTSIDE 

Listen to healing frequency music/sounds 

Talk with someone who loves you 

HUGS

Come be with community

Discover Your Earth Archetype

As a Metaphor, I'm delighted to share about a new batch of stories that dropped last week...

Grist announced the winners of its fourth Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors short story contest. 12 brand-new climate fiction stories featuring vivid, hope-filled, diverse visions of our future.

Imagine 2200 is Grist’s climate fiction initiative, engaging writers from across the globe in envisioning the next 180 years of climate progress. Whether built on abundance or adaptation, reform or a new understanding of survival, these stories provide flickers of hope, even joy, and serve as a springboard for exploring how fiction can help create a better reality.

This year's contest recognizes that the urgency of that visioning has never been higher. More than ever, we need climate fiction as encouragement to look beyond the current moment to picture what could be, to center voices from around the world and particularly those most impacted by the climate crisis, and to challenge us to remember that at the heart of climate solutions is human promise and ingenuity. 

Explore the full collection 

Work Together in Community

Diving into some wonderful facilitation work, "conversation activist" jumped out to me from the page.

I love the idea and the work being done to get people connected to their bodies and one another through all kinds of conversations.

And it got me thinking...

What about "relationship activist" for what happening here at Earth Archetypes?

It fits quite well into my theme to stop working to save the planet and have a relationship with it instead...

The emphasis on knowing our own skills and resources to have a relationship with the planet...

The relationship coaching I've started to do...

And even my self chosen title of Chief Relationship Officer.

I went sleep feeling really excited about this idea.

Was even wondering if a name change would be a good idea from Earth Archetypes to Relationship Activists.

Then I googled it to discover...

Sara O'Shaughnessy and Emily Kennedy first introduced the term in 2010, after noticing that relationship building was a kind of activism operating quietly within and alongside more conventional campaigns.

So what is it according to Stanford?

"Relational activism makes change happen through personal and informal relationships. It’s open to anyone who wants to achieve social change but may not choose to participate in the demonstrations and campaigns of more 'traditional' forms of activism."

Admittedly, that part at the end gets my undies a bit bunched up! But at least it's in quotes :)

And having just done a couple image searches and word association inquires, activism includes a whole lotta megaphones, signs, and serious faces.

For me, as I see neighbors and communities support one another in the blaze of LA and the water of North Carolina...

Relationships are key. The stories are endless. And the impact is potent.

In a culture of capitalism and concentrated power, relationship in an antidote.

And as Standford also rights,

"At a time when division seems like the only thing we all have in common, two “relational activists” describe how building person-to-person connections can keep us from being paralyzed by recalcitrant and complex social problems."

To hold space for ourselves, each other, and nature is full of Embodiment, Metaphor, Weaving, Network, and Molecules.

And I learn more each day.

How would you like to see the idea of "relationship activist" develop?